BOTH the Abbott government and Labor are engaging in the budget blame game after the unemployment rate hit a 12 year high and overtook the US.

The jobless rate climbed to 6.4 per cent last month, a result Joe Hockey has described as “disappointing”.

But the Coalition is laying the blame at the feet of Labor and the Greens, saying it underscores the need for its tough budget agenda announced in May.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz said hundreds of thousands of Australians have been denied a job “because of the recalcitrance of Mr Shorten and the Greens in the Senate not allowing the economic reforms to be progressed that would have guaranteed their jobs or, indeed, grown job opportunities”.

The Treasurer echoed his comments in the wake of yesterday’s release, talking up the importance of its broader Work for the Dole and Earn or Learn policies.

“The Abbott Government has an Economic Action Strategy to deliver stronger jobs growth right across the country. We have already abolished the Carbon Tax, and are working with a diverse Senate to abolish the Mining Tax, cut red tape and end government waste,” he said.

“The Budget includes measures that will improve business investment and also create incentives for people to get back into the workforce.”

Disappointed ... Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey is not pleased with the unemployment rate. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images

The Opposition instead argues the budget is the problem, rather than the answer.

“We saw unemployment and consumer confidence in particular start to take a hit with the Treasurer’s ill-judged and shrill rhetoric in the lead-up to the budget and it only got worse when that was turned into reality,” Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen told ABC Radio this morning.

Before the election forecasts for unemployment showed it was expected to hit 6.25 per cent and Mr Bowen said Labor was prepared to do something about it.

“There’s no jobs plan in this budget and in fact this budget undermines … key investments in innovation, in research, in science, which are going to be creating the jobs of the future.”

Despite the government’s claim unemployment is not being helped by a stalemate in the Senate, Labor is standing firm.

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